Part two of the Great Ocean Road

After our lovely stay in Warrenbool, we woke up bright and early to head to the final stop along the road, Port Fairy. There is actually one more stop, named Portland (!) but apparently there isn't much there and its not really worth the extra hour drive. Also, since you all know me, you know how much I despise the morning.... well it turns out EVERYWHERE has checkout at 10am. Which mind you, is frikking early. Not because 10 is early but because 9 is early and that is what time you have to get up to be ready to checkout at 10. I guess you could say it gets my day going but perhaps not in the best mood. Port Fairy was eh...cute but kinda lame. If we would have gotten there a day earlier, they just had this huge Folk/Blues festival that I was kinda bummed we missed. Other than that we ate lunch at a Turkish Cafe, I got a bacon, egg, cheese sandwich on Turkish Bread and an Iced Chai which she basically turned into an iced chai milkshake. It was delicious and something I had been craving. After that we headed back the other direction.



One of the main tourist attractions that we hit going this way was called the Otway Fly. This is what all those pictures on FB are from. It is an hour treetop walk through the rainforest. To me it honestly didnt seem all that rainforesty but mostly because I am from the Northwest and growing up in the kinds of woods we have back home is hard to beat. BUT being up 47meters at the canaopys of some of the oldest and biggest trees, is pretty unbeatable. This is also where they offer the only Zip Line in Victoria. I was going to do it and even suck up the ridiculous price of it but by the time we got there they were done with tours for the day. It saved me $115 so probably good. The part of trail where I posted pictures of dinasoures was pretty fun. They had a side trail that was the “prehistoric” walk. It showed how some of the trees and vegitation were around even way back then. It was like a little boys adventure park. I thought it was so fun and broke up the straight walking. Also, I should mention it was a million degrees out. While up on the treetop walkway, it was nice, you could feel light breeze up in the trees, but once down on the rainforest floor it was so humid and sticky...  it was around 94 degrees out...I got my exercise and sweat quota in for sure. After we left there we headed back to Lorne which was the original town we were recommended to stay in. It is so cute and calm. We got a fantastic deal on a real hotel for only $60/night which was a nice change as well. In hotels they actually treat you like they want you there. Crazy. We got there pretty late but had enough time to relax and then go to dinner. We picked a spot called like Seafood on the Pier or something equally unoriginal. For $39 a plate I ordered the seafood platter, no scallops, no oysters. It came with mussells, calamai, fried white fish of some kind, crawfish?, smoked salmon and crab. It was pretty delicious but I did wish they served it with melted butter like at home. For the amount of food and the fact a lot of it was fresh caught, it was mostly worth the money. We figured slpurging one night was okay for our sub holiday holiday. After dinner we walked down the pier and saw all the people fishing. Since the sun had gone down it was beautiful out. We went back to the hotel and since we were located on the first floor up, we had access to a wrap around balacony. This is where I decided to try and upload my photos and just relax. It was so amazing. I think the best feeling since I have been here. The breeze was picking up a bit but it was 10pm and still 85 degrees out. After my shower I didnt dry my hair but being outside it did it naturally in like ten minutes. I spent probably three hours out on this terrace just enjoying the evening, looking at the stars and relaxing. I didn’t want to go inside because I knew as soon as I did I wouldnt get to redo the awesome experience. However, eventually we had to go to bed. 



Woke up this morning (Wednesday) to a much cooler Lorne. You could tell the weather was getting ready to change the night before because of all the wind, but I was still surprised by my goosebumps all day today. It was still like 75 out but a huge contrast to yesterday. After checking out at 10 :( we went on a mission to find a short hike to see a waterfall. Now, to be fair, I do live in a place where my standards for what “falls” should look like are based on the Snoqualmie Falls or something similar.... We got to the site, pretty close to town and went down a ton of stairs to see this waterfall. I am telling you Washingtonians, this was a trickle. I literally kept looking around thinking I was missing something and thinking that the wind was the sound of water. it wasnt. lol I took one picture, was so unimpressed that we turned right around. The biggest bummer was that as we hiked back UP from this disappointment I counted that we had to walk 217 steps. That is one hell of a stairmaster workout. I was huffing and puffing after 50. Once we got back into the car and I turned on the AC full blast, I was a bit disillusioned by what all the pamphlets and books said was a “must see”. I gave up on wanting to do anymore hikes today and my legs were sore so we headed into town for lunch.



Ate at a place called Milkbar that a random customer at Electric Landyland suggested. Got their burger, it was good, not great. There is something they season their meat with here that I just cant put a finger on that makes it have a distinct flavor that is good but just not what I am used to. After that we got back on the road to try and find a beach. Pulled over about 15 minutes out of town on the side of the road at some random beach access point. It seemed like a good idea....got settled, Rob looked like he was taking a nap and I was trying to read. However, the wind was so bad it was blowing sand everywhere, into everything, my mouth, hair, ears, kindle. I was trying so hard to be comfortable and enjoy the fact I was on a beach but it got really hard. Add in the sun kept fading in and out I was flipping freezing. I actually sat on the beach today with my WSU sweatshirt on and hood pulled up (to protect from the blowing sand). Finally, when Rob looked like he was moving again I told him that frankly I was not enjoying myself so we got in the car and moved on. Ended our day in Torquey  which apparently is pronounced Tor-Key. Which I cannot seem to grasp at all. Got into town and I must say that today I have not been very chatty or in a very good mood... Neither of us could decide what we wanted to do once we got here so we went to the Visitor info center. We finally settled on a rather short beach walk since I was tired and cranky and it felt less windy here. Beach trip take 2 went better. still a bit chilly but better. As the day went on the sun got warmer so I was happy about that. I got about 2 hours of quality beach napping and relaxing in. Then we found the only hostel in town and checked in. It’s kinda a cute place, and pretty laid back. This is the capital surfing destination so uptight is not really a thing. I will say I am super bummed to be heading back into the city tomorrow but I guess everything must end. At least the temperature is a bit more manageable now. I have four days booked at a hostel on Chapel St. which I am excited for because this weekend I will now be super close to work :)
Overall, I am very happy with my trip down The Great Ocean Road.There are always going to be things I wish we would have gotten to do, like a couple cycling paths, but I really was never up for it. I saw a lot of beautiful places and many of them reminded me why people want to come here. I got to see Koalas, a Wallabee (or maybe a baby kanagaroo), and an Emu which was so cool all by itself. I loved having a car and the convenience of being able to leave your crap somewhere was incredible. I am actually super sad about having to return it. I miss my Mazda :(! Either way, on to the next thing. I have no immediate plans for when I return to Melbourne except try and find another job to work during the week, and try to convince Makenna to move down here. I supposed I will fill you all in once I figure everything out myself. <3